Mandaic script

The Mandaic alphabet is thought to have evolved between the 2nd and 7th century CE from either a cursive form of Aramaic (as did Syriac) or from the Parthian chancery script.[1][2] The exact roots of the script are difficult to determine.[3] It was developed by members of the Mandaean faith of southern Mesopotamia to write the Mandaic language for liturgical purposes.[1] Classical Mandaic and its descendant Neo-Mandaic are still in limited use.[1] The script has changed very little over centuries of use.[3][1]

Mandaic
Type
Alphabet
LanguagesClassical Mandaic
Neo-Mandaic
Parent systems
DirectionRight-to-left
ISO 15924Mand, 140
Unicode alias
Mandaic
U+0840–U+085F

The Mandaic name for the script is Abagada or Abaga, after the first letters of the alphabet. Rather than the traditional Semitic letter names (aleph, beth, gimel), they are known as a, ba, ga and so on.[4]

It is written from right to left in horizontal lines. It is a cursive script, but not all letters connect within a word. Spaces separate individual words.

Mandaic chart

Letters

The Mandaic alphabet contains 22 letters (in the same order as the Aramaic alphabet) and the digraph adu. The alphabet is formally closed by repeating the first letter, a, so that it has a symbolic count of 24 letters:[5][6]

Mandaic alphabet[7]
#Name[3]LetterJoining behaviorTransliterationIPA[3]Unicode
code point
RightMedialLeftLatin[3]Hebrew[5]
1, 24aࡀـࡀaאaU+0840 HALQA
2baࡁـࡁـࡁـࡁـbבbU+0841 AB
3gaࡂـࡂـࡂـࡂـgגgU+0842 AG
4daࡃـࡃـࡃـࡃـdדdU+0843 AD
5haࡄـࡄـࡄـࡄـhהhU+0844 AH
6waࡅـࡅـࡅـࡅـuוu, wU+0845 USHENNA
7zaࡆـࡆzזzU+0846 AZ
8ehࡇـࡇ-ẖחχU+0847 IT
9ṭaࡈـࡈـࡈـࡈـṭטtˠU+0848 ATT
10yaࡉـࡉiיi, jU+0849 AKSA
11kaࡊـࡊـࡊـࡊـkכkU+084A AK
12laࡋـࡋـࡋـࡋـlלlU+084B AL
13maࡌـࡌـࡌـࡌـmמmU+084C AM
14naࡍـࡍـࡍـࡍـnנnU+084D AN
15saࡎـࡎـࡎـࡎـsסsU+084E AS
16eࡏـࡏـࡏـࡏـʿעeU+084F IN
17paࡐـࡐـࡐـࡐـpפpU+0850 AP
18ṣaࡑـࡑـࡑـࡑـṣצsˠU+0851 ASZ
19qaࡒـࡒـࡒـࡒـqקqU+0852 AQ
20raࡓـࡓـࡓـࡓـrרrU+0853 AR
21šaࡔـࡔšשʃU+0854 ASH
22taࡕـࡕـࡕـࡕـtתtU+0855 AT
23ḏࡖـࡖḏ-ד̌ðU+0856 DUSHENNA

Vowels

Unlike most other Semitic alphabets, vowels are usually written out in full. The first letter, a (corresponding to alaph), is used to represent a range of open vowels. The sixth letter, wa, is used for close back vowels (u and o), and the tenth letter, ya is used for close front vowels (i and e). These last two can also serve as the consonants w/v and y. The eighth letter corresponds to the Semitic heth, and is called eh; it is pronounced as a long i-vowel but is used only as a suffix for the third person singular.[6] The sixteenth letter, e (Aramaic ayn), usually represents e at the beginning of a word or, when followed by wa or ya, represents initial u or i respectively.

A mark similar to an underscore (U+085A ◌࡚ MANDAIC VOCALIZATION MARK) can be used to distinguish vowel quality for three Mandaic vowels. It is used in teaching materials but may be omitted from ordinary text.[8] It is only used with vowels a, wa, and ya. Using the letter ba as an example:

  • ࡁࡀ /bā/ becomes ࡁࡀ࡚ /ba/
  • ࡁࡅ /bu/ becomes ࡁࡅ࡚ /bo/
  • ࡁࡉ /bi/ becomes ࡁࡉ࡚ /be/

Gemination mark

A dot under a consonant (U+085B ◌࡛ MANDAIC GEMINATION MARK) can be used to note gemination, indicating what native writers call a "hard" pronunciation.[8] Sample words include ࡀࡊ࡛ࡀ (ekka) 'there is', ࡔࡉࡍ࡛ࡀ (šenna) 'tooth', ࡋࡉࡁ࡛ࡀ (lebba) 'heart', and ࡓࡁ࡛ࡇ (rabba) 'great'.[8]

Ligatures

The 23rd letter of the alphabet is the digraph adu (da + ya), the relative particle[1][5] (cf. Arabic tāʾ marbūṭah, Coptic letter "ti", and English ampersand).

In addition to normal joining behavior, some Mandaic letters can combine to form various ligatures:[3][8]

  • ࡊࡃ /kd/, ࡗ /kḏ/, ࡊࡉ /ki/, ࡊࡋ /kl/, ࡊࡓ /kr/, ࡊࡕ /kt/, and ࡊࡅ /ku/
  • ࡍࡃ /nd/, ࡍࡉ /ni/, ࡍࡌ /nm/, ࡍࡒ /nq/, ࡍࡕ /nt/, and ࡍࡅ /nu/
  • ࡐࡋ /pl/, ࡐࡓ /pr/, and ࡐࡅ /pu/
  • ࡑࡋ /ṣl/, ࡑࡓ /ṣr/, and ࡑࡅ /ṣu/
  • ࡅࡕ /ut/

Both adu (U+0856 ࡖ MANDAIC LETTER DUSHENNA) and the old ligature kḏ (U+0857 ࡗ MANDAIC LETTER KAD) are treated as single characters in Unicode.

Extensions

Affrication mark

Postclassical and modern Mandaic use many Persian words. Various Mandaic letters can be re-purposed by placing two horizontally-aligned dots underneath (U+0859 ◌࡙ MANDAIC AFFRICATION MARK). This idea is comparable to the four novel letters in the Persian alphabet, allowing the alphabet to be used to represent foreign sounds (whether affrication, lenition, or another sound):[8]

  • ࡂ /g/ becomes ࡂ࡙ /γ/
  • ࡃ /d/ becomes ࡃ࡙ /δ/
  • ࡄ /h/ becomes ࡄ࡙ /ḥ/
  • ࡈ /ṭ/ becomes ࡈ࡙ /ẓ/
  • ࡊ /k/ becomes ࡊ࡙ /χ/
  • ࡐ /p/ becomes ࡐ࡙ /f/
  • ࡑ /ṣ/ becomes ࡑ࡙ /ž/
  • ࡔ /š/ becomes ࡔ࡙ /č/, /ǰ/
  • ࡕ /t/ becomes ࡕ࡙ /θ/

Ayin

Mandaic ayin ( ࡘ ) is borrowed from Arabic ayin (ع).[1] Unlike in Arabic, Mandaic ayin does not join with other letters.[8]

Punctuation and other marks

Punctuation is sparsely used in Mandaic text.[8] A break in text can be indicated by two concentric circles (U+085E ࡞ MANDAIC PUNCTUATION).[1]

A horizontal low line (U+0640 ـ ARABIC TATWEEL) can be used to justify text.[1]

Magical and religious use
Main article: Mandaeism

Each letter of the Mandaic alphabet is said to represent a power of life and light.[6] Mandaeans view their alphabet as magical and sacred.[6][1]

The Semitic alphabet contains 22 letters. In order to bring this number to 24, the number of hours in a day, adu was added and a was repeated as the last letter of the Mandaic alphabet.[4][6] Without this repetition the alphabet would be considered incomplete for magical purposes.[4]

Unicode
Main article: Mandaic (Unicode block)

The Mandaic alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2010 with the release of version 6.0.

The Unicode block for Mandaic is U+0840–U+085F:

Mandaic[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+084x ࡀ ࡁ ࡂ ࡃ ࡄ ࡅ ࡆ ࡇ ࡈ ࡉ ࡊ ࡋ ࡌ ࡍ ࡎ ࡏ
U+085x ࡐ ࡑ ࡒ ࡓ ࡔ ࡕ ࡖ ࡗ ࡘ ࡙ ࡚ ࡛ ࡞
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
  • Bowl with incantation for Buktuya and household, c. 200-600 CE (Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada)
  • Bowl with incantation for Kuktan Pruk during her pregnancy, c. 200-600 CE (Royal Ontario Museum)
  • Bowl with incantation to protect Anush Busai and his family against bad luck, c. 200-600 CE (Royal Ontario Museum)
  • Mandaic chart from Das Buch der Schrift (Book of Writing Systems), 1880, Carl Faulmann
  • Page 314 of Illustrirte Geschichte Der Schrift (Illustrated History of Writing), 1880, Carl Faulmann
  • Page 315 of Illustrirte Geschichte Der Schrift
  • Page 316 of Illustrirte Geschichte Der Schrift
  • Comparison chart from Illustrirte Geschichte Der Schrift
  • Comparison chart from L'Encyclopedie Diderot & d'Alembert, volume 2

References
  1. "Chapter 9: Middle East-I, Modern and Liturgical Scripts". The Unicode Standard, Version 10.0 (PDF). Mountain View, CA: Unicode, Inc. June 2017. ISBN 978-1-936213-16-0.
  2. Häberl, Charles G. (February 2006). "Iranian Scripts for Aramaic Languages: The Origin of the Mandaic Script". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (341): 53–62. doi:10.7282/T37D2SGZ.
  3. Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press, Inc. pp. 511–513. ISBN 978-0195079937.
  4. Macúch, Rudolf (1965). Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 7–26.
  5. Drower, Ethel Stefana; Macúch, Rudolf (1963). A Mandaic Dictionary. London: Clarendon Press. pp. 1, 491.
  6. Drower, Ethel Stefana (1937). The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic, Legends, and Folklore. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 240–243.
  7. This table can be viewed correctly using Firefox and the font Noto Sans Mandaic.
  8. Everson, Michael; Richmond, Bob (2008-08-04). "L2/08-270R: Proposal for encoding the Mandaic script in the BMP of the UCS" (PDF).
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